This Is What the Ideal Woman Looked Like in the 1930s

People are forever obsessing over "ideal" body types. Whether we’re focusing on how those standards of beauty have changed over time, how clothing sizes have evolved or what dress size Marilyn Monroe really wore, it’s clear that the subject is less superficial than it may seem.

Conversations about "beauty" are often side by side with conversations about the impacts these changing ideals have on body images of women and girls.

You may think the "ideal" woman in the 1930s would be much different to today's "ideal" but at the end of the day, there isn't too much difference. 

LIFE Magazine described the ideal figure American women hoped to attain in 1938. The model was 20-year-old June Cox who stood 5 ft. 6 3/4 in. and weighed 124 lbs. (56kg). Though life insurance statistics, the magazine said, suggested she should weigh 135 lbs (61kg).

The magazine explained that American women’s increasing involvement in sports in recent years had made them taller and flatter, and as such, “the boyish form became the vogue.” But by the late ’30s, romantic-influenced clothing had returned to fashion, and a “soft feminine figure” was replacing the athletic form as the look du jour:

"The perfect 1938 figure must have curves but it differs from the perfect figure of past decades in relationship of curves to straight lines. In the 1890’s women had full bosoms, round hips. In actual measurements they were probably no rounder than Miss Cox but they seemed so because they were shorter, tightened their waists into an hour-glass effect … Now, though, the ideal figure must have a round, high bosom, a slim but not wasp-like waist, and gently rounded hips."

"Because U.S. women sit down so much—in autos, at bridge tables, at desks and in the mirror—big hips are their most serious problem. On the whole, though, they have the kind of figures that prompted dumpy Elsa Maxwell to say ‘No French woman should be seen on the beach by her lover—all American women should."

This just proves women have been receiving messages about how they should look long before Photoshop was invented.